Future Travel

A few years ago a friend of mine was having some personal life issues and started seeing a therapist. One of the things the therapist asked my friend to do was set goals for herself in different categories of her life, setting a goal for in the next year, and also in five years. I started doing this around the first of every year because I thought it was interesting and fun. The category that was always my favorite was Travel.

I've done a great deal of traveling in the last year, and I even ticked that Mt Kili box that had been showing up in my goal list as a repeat offender year after year. But when you cross one thing off your to-do list, something always takes it's place. This year I ticked Chile and Argentina off and they weren't even close to making it on my list. But while I was there I had a lot of time to think about travel and what kind of traveler I am.

I feel like I'd like to put these big trips on the shelf for a while, the biking across Vietnam can wait, morocco, india, I'll get there someday, but not now... When you're a traveler as I suppose I am, you meet other travelers along the way and you end up reciting your resume of travel, all the boxes you've ticked and the exchange is usually rather lifeless, yeah, been there, done that. I'm about to go live in Paris for a few months and this is a trip I'm very pleased to take. It's a city I think I'll like, a city I've spent a decent amount of time in, but always in long weekend format, and this time I have the opportunity to infiltrate the real Paris.

In Pucon we kept meeting these travelers who were on year-long expeditions alone or with their partners. I couldn't imagine anything I'd like to do less. They never had any money to do the stuff that one does to experience the purpose of said locale, and they cooked all their own food and spent their days in the hostels planning the next leg of their trip. If you ask me, What's the point? I admire their frugality, but after a year of traveling what have you really done? They will always end up having some good stories, or mis-adventures but for me a week or two at a time of being away from real-life is about all I care for. I enjoy travel more when it feels like something I deserve after having worked hard for a few months. Something I have to look forward to.

Having spent months in Valparaiso I can say I understand it much better than had I spent only a few days as I'm sure most travelers do as they pass through on their expeditions living la vida hostel and guidebook. My first impressions of Valparaiso were so different than the ones I left with, they weren't replaced but they were developed.

This year, I'm going to do Paris, and Lyon and possibly if the opportunity presents itself a few other places in France, and I hope thats all I do.